Advances in Medicine - Project 2025 Isn't One of Them
A free public service for a better community
A Good Day To Advocate for Better Healthcare
If there are subjects you’d like to see or improvements made, please let me know using the comment button below.
Videos of these newsletters appear on Youtube on this channel. Let me know what you think.
AI and Lung Cancer Detection
Researchers from the University of Cologne’s Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne have created a digital pathology platform based on artificial intelligence. The platform uses new algorithms and enables fully automated analysis of tissue sections from lung cancer patients. It is now possible to analyse digitized tissue samples on the computer for lung tumors more quickly and accurately The study has been published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine.(University of Cologne)
ChatGPT Detection Capabilities
In radiology, diagnostic imaging requires specialized knowledge to interpret the findings associated with a wide variety of diseases. Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University compared ChatGPT to radiologists ability to diagnose.
In recent years, generative AI models, such as Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT), have shown potential as diagnostic tools in the medical field. They are good but additional tuning is required, The chart below indicates that experts far exceed software, though residents ability to diagnose is just about the same as the software.
The results of this study indicate that ChatGPT may be useful for diagnostic imaging, its accuracy cannot compare to a board-certified radiologist. Additionally, this study suggests that its performance as a diagnostic tool must be fully understood before it can be used, Generative AI, including ChatGPT, is advancing every day, and it is greatly expected to become an auxiliary tool for diagnostic imaging in the future.
The findings were published in European Radiology.
Expanding a Child’s Cardiac Implant With Light
Children born with defects that impair the heart’s lower chambers undergo a series of invasive surgeries early in life. The first surgery includes implantation of a plastic tube called a shunt to improve blood flow. However, as children grow, the shunt is often replaced to accommodate their changing bodies. Now, researchers have designed a shunt that expands when activated by light. If developed successfully, this device could reduce the number of open-chest surgeries these children receive.
Today without these surgeries these children die. However, the surgeries are not without risk. In a study of 360 patients who underwent the initial heart reconstruction procedure, 41 needed additional surgeries to implant a larger shunt and seven died as a result.
The next tests of the light expanding shunt prototypes are in an artificial set-up mimicking the human circulatory system. If these experiments are successful, the researchers intend to move on to experiments in animal models. (American Chemical Society)
Project 2025 & Healthcare
Sponsored by the right-wing think tank, the Heritage Foundation, the Project 2025 policy agenda was written by more than 400 conservative experts and published in a book titled Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise. Many of its core proposals were penned by former Trump staffers.
Halt Prescription Negotiations
At a time when a third of Americans report not filling a prescription due to cost, Project 2025 calls for halting federal negotiation of drug prices, like the one that capped insulin at $35/month for seniors. (p 465).
It also calls for Medicare to be replaced with a default Medicare Advantage program (p 464). This inherently costs more because overhead at private insurers is about 20% and about 2% for the federal Medicare Insurance Trust. A huge giveaway to insurance companies at patient and taxpayer expense masquerading as free choice.
Restrict Medicaid
It also seeks to weaken Medicaid, which more than 70 million low-income Americans rely on for health care. The authors propose instituting lifetime caps on benefits and adding work requirements as a condition for coverage, creating administrative hurdles that make life harder for people who have the least. Together, these provisions will cause millions of people—including those who are currently working—to lose coverage, especially in the 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid. These policies punish patients for being poor, and in one of the harshest ways: by denying them health care (p 468).
Reproductive Rights Restrictions
Project 2025 would not only further restrict abortion at the national level but also eliminate no-cost coverage for some contraception, erecting more barriers to evidence-based care for patients of reproductive age (p 458 and elsewhere). There are actually 199 references to abortion and its restriction in the whole document.
Harms Children
The authors seek to prevent public health agencies from requiring vaccination in school children, which could cause more outbreaks of preventable serious diseases like measles (p 454). They also propose invalidating state laws intended to stem gun violence (link) , a leading cause of death for children in the U.S. Project 2025 would even eliminate Head Start, a critical program for early childhood development, especially in low-income and rural communities (p 482).
Summary
Project 2025 poses a frightening vision of the future where most people are again relegated to the status of a disposable resource. Health, education, personal autonomy, financial protections, worker rights, pollution controls like clean water and air, will all be lost in the name of freedom of choice. It is a hoax and a particularly cruel one. We and our children will be the victims for a long time if we allow Project 2025 to go forward. Particularly frightening is that so much of Project 2025 can be implemented by the executive branch without any oversight of the other branches of government.
Let others know and vote accordingly. It’s up to us.
Find My Elected Officials
Contact State and Federal Representatives - phone and email
Healthcare Advocacy (Us) Website
Our Newsletter resources including reproductive healthcare - Healthcare Advocacy Reading List
Important Healthcare Resources
League of Women Voters Healthcare Reform Toolkit
Organizations to Contact
National Nurses United Medicare4All
Physicians for a National Health Program
One Payer States
Healthcare Now
Reproductive Health
NARAL - Pro Choice America
Charley. chatbot abortion resource - make sure to use a secure incognito browser if you live in a state that has banned abortion
Planned Parenthood
Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline has references about where to procure abortion medications. They also assist women in the process of self managed abortion or miscarriage by phone or text and will respond in an hour. Details and hours of operation at their website.
United State of Women Reproductive health page (bottom of the page) has important resources such as medical support, access to Telehealth, prescriptions by mail, and legal support references.
Practice careful communications - The Digital Defense Fund has a number of tips to keep texts, calls, and internet use private. Here is their site.
If you need financial help with an abortion try abortionfunds.org
Claims Denials and Appeals & What to Do
Appeal a Healthcare Decision
Appeal/Negotiate a Hospital Bill
Disinformation Management
Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency
Save Democracy
Chop Wood, Carry Water by Jessica Cravens
RESISTBOT
Link to the RESISTBOT site to learn more
Link to Chop Wood, Carry Water RESISTBOT write up
Thanks for reading Healthcare Advocacy! Subscribe for free to receive new posts